The development of computerized distributed information resources, such as the Internet, allows users to link with servers and networks, and thus retrieve vast amounts of electronic information. This electronic information is increasingly displacing more conventional methods of information transmission, such as newspapers, magazines, and television.
Internet services are typically accessed by specifying a unique address, such as a uniform resource locator (URL). A URL has two basic components, the protocol to be used and the object pathname. For example, the URL “http://www.irs.gov” (home page for the Internal Revenue Service), specifies a hypertext transfer protocol (“http”) and a name of the server (“www.irs.gov”).
The Internet has rapidly become a valuable source of information to all segments of society. Commercial enterprises utilize the Internet as an integral part of their marketing efforts to promote products or services. Likewise, many federal, state, and local government agencies also employ the Internet for informational purposes. The information provided is often updated regularly to help keep the users up-to-date with changes that may occur.
The World Wide Web (Web) is a graphic, interactive interface for the Internet. Web sites are typically comprised of a collection of Web pages that include graphic displays usually linked together and available for downloading to a client data processing system utilizing a Web browser. Each Web page has a unique address or URL within the Web that is accessible by utilizing TCP/IP transactions.
Retrieval of information on the Web is generally accomplished with a Web browser, which is an application program capable of submitting a request for information identified by a URL. The information may be provided to the client using hypertext markup language (“HTML”), which can be interpreted and understood by the Web browser.
Even though the Internet contains a vast amount of information that may be useful to many segments of society, users desiring specific information often find it difficult to find such information. Search engines are available to help users search the vast network of the Internet. Typically, search engines accept a search query from the user and look for the search query's keywords in an indexed list of terms. An indexed list is typically generated by parsing text found on Web sites and/or Web pages. Based on the search of the indexes, the URLs of the associated Web sites and/or Web pages are collected and disseminated to the user via the user's Web browser.
There are many conventional methods used to disseminate search results. One method is to display the search results in random order. Alternatively, the contents of the search results can be contrasted heuristically and statistically to determine the degree the search results match the input keywords, and then display the most relevant search results on a Web browser for viewing by the user. Nonetheless, the search results are generally displayed in a list-type format on a Web page in a Web browser.
Depending on the keywords entered by the user, the search results returned by a search engine may be numerous and may span more than one Web page. Navigating to the various Web pages identified by the search results generally requires the retrieval and display of new Web pages within the viewing area of the Web browser. If the user of the Web browser desires to go back to the list of search results, a number of key strokes and/or mouse button “clicks” are required. This is a time consuming process that generally slows the viewing of multiple links associated with the search results. Embodiments of the present invention provide a more efficient and easier managed process for navigating a list containing multiple links to information sources, such as Web pages.